Knowing and Experiencing God:

Transcription

1 Knowing and Experiencing God: Pursuing the God Who Reveals Himself Lesson #2: Understanding the Incomprehensible God Opening Questions The Boxing Match by John Duckworth When God shows up, our first impulse is often to build a booth or a box to put Him in. The problem is when we stop to take a look; He s usually not there anymore. Yet, throughout church history, people have tightly clutched their boxes long after the Lord of glory had departed. Author Unknown A Conversation With a Child What Does It Mean That God Is Incomprehensible? Deut 29:29 Isaiah 55:8-9 Job 11:7-9 Isaiah 40:28 Job 36:26 Romans 11:33-34 Job 37:5 I Tim 6:

2 If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshipped. Evelyn Underhill Quoted by Elisabeth Elliot, Secure in the Everlasting Arms Words Used For Incomprehensible Unsearchable Inscrutable Undiscoverable Untraceable Unfathomable Infinite More than we can imagine Past finding out Beyond comprehension Exalted beyond our knowledge Incomprehensibility R. C. Sproul When teaching theology proper, I always start with God's incomprehensibility, because humility demands that we understand at the outset that we are like infants struggling to understand a genius who is speaking to us in our own terms. To whatever degree it is possible for his creatures to apprehend him, God has made himself known. Theology distinguishes between a comprehensive (exhaustive) knowledge of God, which we cannot have, and an apprehensive knowledge, which is the limited, finite, creaturely knowledge that we can have. Apprehensive knowledge admits to degrees, so we can know God, more or less, in this human framework. Even if we master every iota of information given by Scripture and nature about the character of God, and fully understand all that has been revealed, our knowledge will still be far from comprehensive. In this world, because of the weakness of our flesh, our slothfulness, our slowness of mind, we do not even begin to master what he has revealed. Thus our apprehensive knowledge is weak and frequently attended by error. 2

3 You can t unscrew the inscrutable...but you can know the unknowable. The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of the law. Deut. 29:29 There is profound meaning in even the simplest of Christian truths. No matter how deep our knowledge of theology, there will always be much about the nature and character of God that will remain a mystery to us. No human being can have a comprehensive knowledge of God. The doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God does not mean that we can know nothing about God. It means that our knowledge is limited, bounded by our humanity. Glory of an Incomprehensible God The Majesty of Mystery: Celebrating the Incomprehensible God by K. Scott Oliphint 3

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5 Footprints and Fingerprints Footprints Martin Luther ( ) wrote that God s actual divine essence and his will, administration and works are absolutely beyond all human thought, human understanding or wisdom; in short, that they are and ever will be incomprehensible, inscrutable, and altogether hidden to human reason. Jerry Bridges in Trusting God says God s wisdom is fathomless, His decisions are unsearchable, His methods are mysterious and untraceable. No one has ever even understood His mind, let alone advised Him on the proper course of action. How futile and even arrogant for us to seek to determine what God is doing in a particular event or circumstance. We simply cannot search out the reasons behind His decisions or trace out the ways by which He brings those decisions to pass. 5

6 Martin Luther ( ) wrote that God s actual divine essence and his will, administration and works are absolutely beyond all human thought, human understanding or wisdom; in short, that they are and ever will be incomprehensible, inscrutable, and altogether hidden to human reason. Jerry Bridges in Trusting God says God s wisdom is fathomless, His decisions are unsearchable, His methods are mysterious and untraceable. No one has ever even understood His mind, let alone advised Him on the proper course of action. How futile and even arrogant for us to seek to determine what God is doing in a particular event or circumstance. We simply cannot search out the reasons behind His decisions or trace out the ways by which He brings those decisions to pass. List Some Life Situations That You Experienced The Untraceable Footprints Of God His footprints may be untraceable but He leaves His fingerprints 6

7 Faith Is A Spiritual Act That Sees The Fingerprints Of God. John Piper, in a sermon What Faith Knows and Hopes For Here is an analogy at the physical level. A few years ago one of the rages was hidden 3-D images. These are pieces of art that, on one level, are one thing, but at another level are something quite different. At first glance all you see is the surface presentation. But if you let your eyes focus more deeply, or more distantly, you may see a train or a boxing kangaroo or a globe not only appearing, but actually standing up off the page. Now some people stare at these pages for several minutes and see nothing but color and chaos. But others almost immediately see the head of Beethoven or a lamb. If someone says, How do you know a lamb is there? the answer is, I see it. Your seeing is the evidence. They may not see it, but that won t change your mind. Now this is what it is like for some to look at God s creation. Some see color and chaos. Others have a deeper view and suddenly God s fingerprints come into focus. What evidence can they offer? They see it. It is as undoubted as a lamb in a 3-D image. No one can talk you out of it. You may ask, Should that be called faith? Didn t Paul say (in 2 Corinthians 5:7), We walk by faith and not by sight? How can faith be sight? Paul meant that Christ is not present physically on earth to see with physical eyes, but is in heaven. He did not mean that there is no spiritual perception of God s reality. Hebrews 11:1 says, Faith is the conviction or better, the evidence of things not seen. And then the writer illustrates this in verse 3 when he says that we understand by faith that God created the world. In other words, faith is not just a responding act of the soul; it is also a grasping or perceiving or understanding act. It is a spiritual act that sees the fingerprints of God. This does not mean that you believe them into being. That would be wishful thinking the power of positive thinking. That is not authentic faith. Real faith is based on real Truth. It looks deeply at the world God has made looks through it, so to speak and by the grace of God, it sees the glory of God (as Psalm 19:1 says) standing forth off the creation like a 3-D image. 7

8 Become a God Detective Finding The Fingerprints Of God In Your Life We are speaking of God. Is it any wonder that you do not comprehend? For if you comprehended Him, He cannot be God. To reach to God by any measure in the mind is a great blessedness, but to comprehend Him is altogether impossible. You may know God, but not comprehend Him. Augustine in a sermon on John 1:1. Puritan Richard Baxter ( The Christian doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God is a revealed truth. It follows naturally after the doctrine of creation and forms the context of all the other attributes of God. It is also clear that the authors of Scripture were not embarrassed by the incomprehensibility of God but proud of it. They did not apologize for it but boasted of it. They did not agonize over it but rejoiced in it. They were not driven away from God by it but were drawn nigh unto God because of it. They did not curse God but fell at His feet in wonder, awe, and praise. How should a proper understand of God s incomprehensibility impact how we live? Because God can never be fully known, as those who seek to know God we should be deeply humbled in the process, realizing that we will always have more to learn. The appropriate response is a heart of wonder and awe in light of God s incomprehensible greatness. Four Life Changing Reasons to Understand the Incomprehensibility of God 1. It prevents us from putting God into a box. Questions: What kind of boxes have you seen people try to put God into? What box have you put God into? When has God been the great iconoclast in your life? 8

9 From A Grief Observed by C.S. Lewis: Images, I must suppose, have their use or they would not have been so popular. (It makes little difference whether they are pictures or statues outside the mind or imaginative constructions within it.) To me, however, their danger is more obvious. Images of the Holy easily become holy images sacrosanct. My idea of God is not a divine idea. It has to be shattered time after time. He shatters it himself. He is the great iconoclast. Could we not almost say that this shattering is one of the marks of his presence? The incarnation is the supreme example; it leaves all previous ideas of the Messiah in ruins. And most are offended by the iconoclasm; and blessed are those who are not. 2. It helps us understand the despair of secular philosophy. Questions: Where have you seen the agnostic despair in media or in the lives of nonbelievers your know? Why does it help to know the philosophic milieu that people exist in? 3. It guards us against mystical con artists and spiritual counterfeits. Questions: Why do you think people want to claim a psychic hotline to God or the supernatural? Why do mystical encounters with God seem to override a Biblical relationship with God? 9

10 4. It sets the foundation for Biblical understanding of God through His creation and Word. God has revealed Himself in His works and in His Word Romans 16:25-27 Now to him who is able to establish you in accordance with my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith to the only wise God be glory forever through Jesus Christ! Amen. Hebrews 1:1-3 In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. Knowledge of God is based on Christ focused, Cross focused, Bible focused revelation The incomprehensibility of God does not mean that we know nothing about God. Rather, it means that our knowledge is partial and limited, falling short of total or comprehensive knowledge. The knowledge that God gives of Himself through revelation is both real and useful. We can know God to the degree that He chooses to reveal Himself. The finite can "grasp" the infinite, but the finite can never hold the infinite within its grasp. There is always more of God than we apprehend. R.C. Sproul 10

11 Your God is Too Small One of the unexpected joys of studying Church History has been learning about spiritual classics. One of the most recent is J.B. Phillips Your God is Too Small (1952). In this short volume 124 pages Phillips ( ) details what he refers to as destructive ideas about God, which he says leads to unreal Gods. In this summary I share some of these. by Mark Nickens Resident Policeman Parental Hangover Grand Old Man Meek-and-Mild Heavenly Bosom God-in-a-Box Managing Director 11

12 Your God is Too Small by Kyle Idleman Your concept of God determines everything, and the reason why we find ourselves living predictable, safe, lives that are often dominated by fear and anxiety is because we ve made God too small. If your god says things to you like Don t take a risk, play it safe, then your god is too small. If your god is a genie that exists to grant your wishes, If your god loves Americans more than he loves other races, if your god is always saying Come, and never saying Go, then your god is too small If your god never asks you to do something that isn t in the budget, if your god needs a certain president to be in office to accomplish what he wants to accomplish, then your god is too small. If your god has never filled your eyes with tears or taken away your breath, then your god is too small. If your god s plan is for you to retire and spend a couple of decades taking it easy, then your god is too small. If your god always shares your opinions and preferences, if your god always likes what you like, if your god is Baptist, if your god is a Methodist, if your god is a Lutheran, if your god is a catholic, then your god is too small. If your god is just fine spending an hour with you a week, then your god is too small. If your god looks at your sin of greed and gossip and says, No big deal, you re doing better than most,then your god is too small. If your god says your family is too messed up, if your god says you re too young or you re too old or you re too broken or you re too poor or you re too late or you re too guilty, then your god is too small. If your god fits nicely into a box, then that s not God. You open it up and you find out he s not in there... Cause he doesn t do boxes. 12

13 Table Talk 1. Review the Life Changing Reasons for Understanding the Incomprehensibility of God 2. Be a God detective this week. Find F.O.G. 3. Where have you boxed God into box? 13